Dolls Chapter 2.10

“You…”

“Yes?”

“Why do you…”

“……?”

“Why do you smell like AE70?”

“…What?”

Joy looked at OE70 in confusion, and OE70, with a furrowed brow, spat out the words as if chewing them.

“You smell like AE70. It’s overwhelming.”

“Hyung…?”

OE70’s expression grew more distorted as he looked at the flustered Joy. His lost pupils shook back and forth as if he couldn’t believe it. Trembling, OE70 collapsed to the floor. Concerned, Joy approached him, but OE70 pushed him away with all his strength.

“…Hyung!”

“Why! Why do you smell like AE70!”

“What are you talking about! What’s wrong, hyung!”

“Hah… You’re covered in my alpha’s scent… Why do you look like you don’t know anything?”

“Hyung!”

“From you! From you… AE70’s scent is pouring out like crazy! Why… why is it coming from you and not me… AE70’s mate is me… Why…”

“……”

Joy couldn’t understand OE70’s words. He had only seen AE70 at the dining room today, so why was he saying such things?

“The only way an alpha’s scent could cling to you this strongly is…”

“Hyung…”

“You… you slept with AE70.”

“Hyung… what are you talking about! That’s impossible.”

OE70’s icy, biting words were so unfamiliar. He had always been the warm hyung who comforted Joy. But now, OE70 seemed to have forgotten the OE01 he cherished so much.

“Hyung, what’s wrong? There’s no way I would do that.”

Joy looked straight into OE70’s eyes and spoke again. He thought it was a delusion born from OE70’s obsession with his mate, whom he couldn’t meet. It must be despairing. Joy knew the shock of having things he took for granted denied. He, too, had been constantly “denied” lately.

OE70’s breathing grew rapid. As if struggling to breathe, he clutched his chest and panted heavily. Joy hugged OE70 and gently comforted him. He patted his hand slowly and stroked his back. Quietly, warmly. OE70 gradually calmed down and breathed evenly.

“Right… right… there’s no way you would do that.”

OE70 murmured from within Joy’s embrace.

“There’s no way… no way…”

Joy’s eyes were heavy with complexity as he looked down at OE70, who kept muttering “no way” before fainting.

“It’s time.”

Hearing a voice behind him, Joy turned to see Lionel standing at the door with the servants. It was time to lock the door again. Among the three, only Joy could freely roam the Seifried mansion. OE70 and AE70 had their times scheduled so they wouldn’t meet, with their doors locked accordingly.

It was cruel. Was it really necessary to go this far? Joy brushed his palm over OE70’s sleeping face, still wet with tears. He was such a bright and warm person, unaccustomed to the mental anguish inflicted here. Joy sighed softly, stood up, and moved to lay OE70 on the bed.

“We’ll take care of it. Please leave.”

At Lionel’s businesslike tone, Joy nodded and stepped aside. The servants quickly moved, laid OE70 on the bed, and left the room, locking the door behind them.

The sound of the lock clicking shut was so melancholic. Leaving it behind, Joy walked toward AE70’s room.

“OE01?”

AE70, opening the locked door, looked at Joy with surprised eyes as he entered. Dressed in black slacks and an ivory shirt, AE70 was indistinguishable from Noah at a glance. He was holding a book, a sight so unlike the AE70 Joy knew that Joy furrowed his brow unconsciously.

“Hyung… you can read…?”

At Joy’s words, AE70 smirked and closed the book.

“Well… I’m not great at it, but I can read simple things.”

“How…? Hyung, you never learned to read.”

Joy spoke in confusion, and AE70 smiled softly, looking around the room.

“Look around, OE01. The only things in this room are books. I’m locked in here for half the day. What do you think I’ve been doing to pass the time?”

“……”

“At first, I didn’t know what to do and just sat there blankly. Then I asked Master: what should I do? Guess what he said?”

“……?”

“You could read one book a day from this room and last three years, yet you’re asking something pointless.”

AE70 furrowed his brow, and the resemblance to Noah Seifried was so striking that Joy shivered with goosebumps.

“He assumed I could read, of course. So I decided to live up to his expectations. Luckily, the books in here range from ones for young children to all sorts, so I learned to read faster than I expected.”

“……”

“Maybe I’m just smart. Noah Seifried’s genes?”

AE70 sneered mockingly. Indeed, AE70’s demeanor had changed significantly. Once a mischievous child, he now felt truly like a “hyung.” Unless he spoke, he was indistinguishable from Noah Seifried. He was no longer childlike.

Joy swallowed hard and asked AE70.

“Hyung.”

“Yes?”

“Have you… seen me anywhere besides the dining room today?”

At Joy’s question, AE70 smirked and asked, “Why?”

“No… just, just…”

“Doesn’t seem like ‘just.’”

AE70 approached, backing Joy against the wall. Trapped between the wall and AE70’s arms, Joy turned his head to avoid the intense gaze, but AE70 grabbed his chin, forcing eye contact, and asked,

“Why are you asking?”

“Well…”

“Well?”

“OE70 hyung said I smell like you…”

“What?”

“I don’t know your scent since I’m not your mate… But that can’t be true. We haven’t met recently except at the dining room today.”

“Haha…”

AE70 ran a hand through his hair and laughed softly. His demeanor was so unfamiliar. It wasn’t the AE70 Joy knew. He should’ve spoken and acted more childlike. The old AE70 wouldn’t have pinned Joy against the wall, wouldn’t have answered a question with a question, and would’ve first asked why OE70 thought that or what was going on. But now, it seemed OE70 wasn’t even on AE70’s mind.

“Are you saying we… slept together or something?”

AE70’s words made Joy pause before answering. For lab subjects, sex was described as studying, practicing, or sleeping together. Though he didn’t fully understand “slept together,” Joy carefully inferred the meaning.

“For an omega to carry an alpha’s pheromones that strongly, it could only mean sleeping together…”

“No way.”

AE70 cut him off, as if the idea were absurd.

“What about you? Have you seen me? Besides today?”

“…No.”

“Then why are you so serious about it? I’ve been here the whole time, and I only found out you were back this morning.”

“That’s… true…”

“OE70 must be confused. With everything going on, that kid’s probably struggling.”

Saying “that kid’s probably struggling” so casually, AE70 turned back to his book. If it were his mate, AE70 would’ve been devastated. All alphas and omegas at the lab valued their mates more than their own lives. That’s how they were. But AE70 treated OE70’s current pain as if it were trivial.

“Hyung… you’re acting strange…”

Joy spoke with a trembling voice, and AE70 gave him a slight smile.

“The world’s a strange place, OE01.”

As AE70 returned to his book, Joy fled the room. After Joy closed the door and left, AE70 put down his book and stared in the direction Joy had gone for a long time.

*

In the lab, only the periodic beep—beep— of the oxygen respirator echoed. Noah looked at the capsule where Jays was sleeping. Since the day he tried to strangle Joy, Jays hadn’t woken, surviving day by day reliant on the capsule.

“Why won’t he wake up?”

“We don’t know the reason either. His physical balance is completely normal. It seems to be a mental issue.”

“And?”

“We don’t know the exact reason.”

Noah furrowed his brow at the researcher’s words. Though Jays was an enemy, he was the head of the lab. He was responsible for over half a dozen projects. Every research effort led back to Jays Miller. With him in this state, the Purse Corporation lab was effectively at a standstill.

“Find the cause as quickly as possible.”

“Yes.”

Noah sighed deeply and left the lab. Walking down the empty corridor, he looked up. Hearing a commotion, he turned toward a sign reading “Living Quarters.” Living Quarters… Muttering to himself, Noah walked toward the noise.

Unlike the quiet research wing, the living quarters were bustling with alphas and omegas mingling noisily. The alphas and omegas, now familiar to Noah, wore the same white sack-like clothes, paired with identical faces, chatting comfortably with smiles.

Their pure faces seemed untouched by the world’s corruption. But once tainted by lust and having served their purpose, they’d be discarded without hesitation, regardless of their will. Seeing these alphas and omegas smiling so innocently, unaware of their fate, left a bitter taste in Noah’s mouth.

Perhaps that’s why. Thinking of the alpha and omega at home, Noah turned back. At the very least, he wouldn’t let them be discarded so powerlessly.

“You’re here, Mr. Seifried.”

Lionel took Noah’s coat and bowed, and Noah nodded lightly before entering the house. As he passed the parlor on the way to his room, Noah froze at the sight of AE70 sitting by the fireplace, reading a book.

The clothes AE70 wore were mostly ones Noah had recently stopped wearing, creating the illusion of his past self sitting there. Even more, the outfit AE70 had on was one Noah often wore during the mutation experiment… the one Joy Green loved.

“Those clothes… are they still around?”

At Noah’s words, Lionel responded.